News Release Deputy Premier John Rau

Attorney-General
Minister for Justice Reform
th

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

New laws to better protect people with a disability

The State Government has introduced a bill into Parliament to provide people with a disability
greater protection from abuse by support workers and service providers.
Attorney-General John Rau said the Criminal Law Consolidation (Sexual Offences-Cognitive
Impairment) Bill 2014 will make it a crime if someone uses undue influence to engage in
sexual activity with a person with a cognitive impairment.
People with a cognitive impairment can particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation,
especially from those in a position of trust, power and authority, Mr Rau said.
The Bill will work in conjunction with linked legislative and other changes as part of the
Disability Justice Plan to improve the protection of people with disability.
There has been nearly universal support for what we are setting out to achieve, although I
acknowledge there is a diversity of opinion about how best to achieve it.
We have looked at interstate and overseas legislation to draft our bill, in an effort to balance
the need to protect people with intellectual disability, while not undermining their sexual
autonomy.
The Bill introduces two new offences:
1. To obtain or procure sexual intercourse or indecent contact through undue influence
between a service provider and a person with a cognitive impairment.
2. The performance of an indecent act by a service provider without the consent of a person
with a cognitive impairment or obtaining their consent to the performance of the act by undue
influence.
The laws will apply to any service provider to a person with a cognitive impairment, whether
for payment or not (this includes volunteers and informal service providers, but excludes
spouses or domestic partners), Mr Rau said.
We have adopted an undue influence model which presumes that a service provider in a
position of trust, power or authority used undue influence to obtain or procure any sexual
conduct with the person with a cognitive impairment, unless they can prove otherwise.
This new law is part of a raft of measures included in the Disability Justice Plan, including
$3.25 million committed in this years budget to ensure people with disability are better served
by the justice system.

Media contact: Kate Baldock 0459 241 531

www.premier.sa.gov.au

Twitter: @sa_press_sec